Railroad-tie.



F. A. 'HVENSE.

RAILROAD TIE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 30, 1915.

Patented Mar. 7-, 1916.

FRANK it. HENSIE, F lDUIBUQ'UE,

IGWA.

RAILROAD-TIE.

mam

specification of Letters Patent.

Patented 7, 19161..

Application filed March 30, 1915. Serial l lo. 18,037.

To (225 whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, FRANK A. Hnnsn, a citizen of the United States, residing Dubuque, in the county of Dubuque and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Ties; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in railroad ties, and has {for its principal object to provide a tie which may be formed or" metal and which will effectively prevent the rails from spreading, sinking, or creeping.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tie wherein the resilience of the wood tie is retained, even though the main body of the present tie is formed of metal.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel means for securing the rails in place on the tie.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a tie having cushion blocks forming the rail seats, which blocks may be removed and replaced should they become worn or otherwise unfit for use.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a chamber for retaining the blocks which is preferably square in "cross section so that should the blocks become worn on their upper faces, any one of the remaining three faces may be turned to form the rail seat, thereby avoiding the necessity of replacing the block with an entire new one.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel combination and arrangement of parts which will be fully set forth in the following specification and accompanying drawings, in which,

.Figure 1 is a top plan View of a tie constructed in accordance with this inyention, Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof, Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 showing the rails removed, and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view oi one end of the tie.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference, the numeral 1 designates as an entirety the lower portion or base of the tie comprising the bottom 2, having formed thereon the side walls 3 and 4:. These side walls terminatc their upper edges in the flanges 5 to which theupper plate, which will be more fully hereinafter described, is riveted or otherwise secured. The flanges 5 and the side walls and t are notched or cut away as at 6, and these cut-away portions extend to a point considerably below the upper edge of the side walls and 4, and are of a width suilicient to receive the base of the rails when the same are in place.

The cover plate hereinbefore referred to, is designated by the numeral 7 and is provided along its lateral edges with a plurality of rivet-receiving openings through which the rivets 8 extend. The rivet-rccciving openings aline with similar rivetreceiving openings in the flanges 5, and the rivets 8 are passed therethrough so as to hold the plate 7 firmly in place. Formed in each end of the plate are the notches or recesses 9 which provide extensions 10, the ends of which are bent upwardly as at 11 to form guides for the rail base when the same is being placed in position. Suitable slits extend lnwardly from the inner wall of each of the recesses 9, and these slits are spaced at equal distances from the longitudinal center of the tie to form the inwardly extending, downturned tongue 1-2, which limits the inward movement of the bearing block, which will be more fully hereinafter described. The space occupied by the tongue before being bent inwardly as illustrated in Fig. 4, is used for the reception of the rail brace which will be more fully hereina'fter described.

Cooperating with the cover plate 7 are the end plates 13 which are formed with the longitudinal recesses 14 and these recesses 14; terminate in the enlarged recesses 15, which form the arms 16, the ends of which are bent upwardly as at 17 to correspond to the upwardly bent portions 11 of the arms of the plate 7. These upturned portions 17'co6peratewith the upturned portions 11 in forming rail guides to assist in placing the rails in place. The plate 13 is riveted or otherwise secured as at 18 to the flanges 5 near each end of the tie, and the recesses l l'are -for the reception of the outer rail braces when the same are used.

The base member 1 of the tie is preferably square in cross section and designed for the reception of the cushion blocks 19, the inner ends of which abut the tongue 12 as clearly shown in Fig. 2. In order to brace the centrally, the brace wall is provided, and this brace wall is formed with the flanges 21 which are riveted or otherwise secured as at 22 to the side walls3 and 4,

The blocks 19 being square in cross section, it will be evident that in case the upper face thereof becomes worn, they may be easily and quickly removed by removing the spikes from the rails and slipping the blocks from beneath the rails, and if desired, any of the unused faces may be placed in position beneath the rails so that the length of the life of these blocks is materially increased. The openings formed by the slits in the plate 7 and the openings 14 inthe plates 13 are arranged to receive the rail braces 23 which are spiked or otherwise secured as at 24: to the blocks 19. lfhe adjacent ends of these rail braces are disposed so as to engage the webs of the rails when the same are m place and to overlie the flanges of said rails. It will thus be seen that the rails will be effectively held against twisting and danger of derailment from this cause is thereby eliminated.

From the foregoing it will be evident that the ties are placed in the usual manner and the rails laid on top thereof being slipped between the upstanding portions 11 and 17 of the tie. lVhen in this position, it will be evident that the rails will engage the upper faces of the blocks 19 and may be spiked or secured thereto in the usual way. In event the face of any of the blocks becomes worn, it is evident that the spikes may be released and the blocks slipped from position be neath the rail and turned so as to present a new and unworn face 'to the under surface of the rail, and in this way it will be evident that a material saving 1n the expense of keeping the rails properly is materially reduced. It is also evident that due to the position of the rails with relation to the ends of the tie, if desired, the blocks may be turned end for end, thus providing eight wear surfaces or bearing faces for the bases of the rails which materially reduces the expense of providing the resilient blocks. It IS also evident that a material saving of labor is eflected due to the fact that the entire tie need not be removed to replace the blocks.

. While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention, it is to be understood that such changes may be made in the combination and arrangement of parts as will fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. A railway tie comprising, ahollow body U-shaped in cross section and having the upper edges of its sides bent to provide laterally extending flanges and having the sides and the flanges cutaway at the opposite ends of the body, a cover plate overlying the top of the body and resting on the flanges and poopposite terminals provided with cut-out 2 portions, blocks positioned within the ties at the opposite ends thereof. and extending across the cutaway portions in the sides of the tie and beneath the terminals of the cover plate and adapted to form rests for the base rflanges of the rails, and'rail-securing members mounted in the cutaway portions at the opposite ends of the cover plate and resting on the upper sides of the block.

2. A railway tie comprising a hollow body U-shaped in cross section and having the upper edges of its sides bent to provide laterally extending flanges and having the sides and the flanges cutaway adjacent the opposite ends of the body, a cover plate overlying the top of the body and resting on the flanges and positioned between the cutaway portions at the opposite end of the body and having its opposite terminals provided with cut-out portions, plates positioned at the opposite ends of the body and resting on the flanges and spaced from the adjacent ends of the cover plate and having cut-out portions therein, blocks positioned within the ties at the opposite ends thereof and extending across the cut-out portions in the sides of the tie and having their opposite ends located beneath the cut-out portions in the terminals of the cover plate and the end plate, the said blocks being adapted to form rests for rails, and rail-securing members mounted in the cutaway portions in the ends of the cover plate and the end plate.

3. A railway tie comprising, a hollow body U-shaped in cross section and having the 11 per edges of its sides bent to provide latera ly extending flanges and having the sides and the flanges cutaway at the opposite ends of the body, a cover plate overlying the top of the body and resting on the flanges and positioned between the cutaway port1on s at the opposite ends of the body and havlng its opposite terminals provided with cut-out portions, blocks positioned within the t es at theopposite ends thereof and extending across the cutaway portions in the sldes of the tie and beneath the terminals of the cover plate and adapted to form rests for the base flanges of the rails, rail-securlng members mounted in the cutaway portion at the opposite ends of the cover plate and resting on the upper sides of the block, and tongues depending from the under side of the cover plate and engaging the inner ends of the blocks.

4. A railway tie comprising a hollow bodV U-shaped in cross section and having its sides provided with cut-out portions adjacent the opposite ends of the body, a cover plate overlying the body and resting on the upper edges of the sides of the body and ing their ends extending beneath the ends of the cover plate and beneath the end plate,

the said blocks being adapted to form rests 10 for the base flanges of rails.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of tWo witnesses.

FRANK A. HENSE.

Witnesses:

FRANK J. WELU, CHAs. P. METTEL. 

